STRONG STATE ECONOMY: Gov. Larry Hogan told a gathering of 700 business leaders Thursday that the state’s economy “is stronger than it’s been in more than a decade” and that the state is developing a new strategy to speed growth in cybersecurity, biohealth and life sciences, Jeff Barker of the Sun writes.

Hogan cited a concentration of bio-science companies and cybersecurity companies in the state. Many are drawn to the state because of the proximity to federal institutions in Washington, Bethesda and Fort Meade. But those businesses have also been vulnerable to federal budget cuts in recent years, Bryan Sears of the Daily Record reports.
Commerce Secretary R. Michael Gill said that the customers the state must serve are the businesses based in Maryland. He pointed to a $20 million deal with Marriott International to keep the hotel company’s headquarters in the state. “They wanted to stay,” Gill said. “We just had to demonstrate that we cared whether or not they stayed.” Rachel Baye reports the story for WYPR-FM.

CRAB RESTRICTIONS LIKELY: Chesapeake Bay crabbers will likely face some harvest restriction this season to protect future generations of the iconic crustacean, a move managers say is necessary because of the low population of young crabs. Fishery managers for Maryland, Virginia and the Potomac River Fisheries Commission all say they are considering shortening the season and imposing stricter limits on the harvest of female crabs. They are not proposing changes in male crab catches, Rona Kobell of the Bay Journal writes in MarylandReporter.